The 38th Annual International Bible Contest for high school students is already underway, with the main event to be held in Jerusalem this Thursday, Israel\'s Independence Day. Some 61 young contestants from 30 countries participated in the first part of the contest yesterday, which was exclusively for Diaspora Jews. Eliav Danziger, 17, from Canada was the victor, and his runner-up was Nofar Daskal, a 15-year-old girl from Belgium. On Thursday, their Israeli counterpart will join the fray, in which will be crowned the International Bible Contest champion.
The young scholars met this morning with Prime Minister Sharon, who told them, \"Whoever knows the Bible doesn\'t need a tour guide to take them around the Land of Israel. I told this to the Pope two years ago, and I mentioned that the places here in Israel have retained their names from Biblical days - Jerusalem, Hevron, Jordan, Beit El, Shilo, Rachel\'s Tomb, etc. The Pope then mentioned other places whose Biblical names haven\'t changed, such as Gilboa, Tabor - and then he said something that would be good for all of us to remember: He said, \'The Land of Israel and Jerusalem are holy to the three religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - but the Land is promised only to the Jews.\'\"
The young scholars met this morning with Prime Minister Sharon, who told them, \"Whoever knows the Bible doesn\'t need a tour guide to take them around the Land of Israel. I told this to the Pope two years ago, and I mentioned that the places here in Israel have retained their names from Biblical days - Jerusalem, Hevron, Jordan, Beit El, Shilo, Rachel\'s Tomb, etc. The Pope then mentioned other places whose Biblical names haven\'t changed, such as Gilboa, Tabor - and then he said something that would be good for all of us to remember: He said, \'The Land of Israel and Jerusalem are holy to the three religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - but the Land is promised only to the Jews.\'\"